On Windows, you need not create the data directory and the grant
tables. MySQL Windows distributions include the grant tables with
a set of preinitialized accounts in the mysql
database under the data directory.

These instructions assume that your current location is the MySQL
installation directory and that it has a bin
subdirectory containing the MySQL programs used here. If that is
not true, adjust the command path names accordingly.

A common installation location for installation from a Zip package
is C:\mysql:

C:\> cd C:\mysql

Alternatively, add the bin directory to your
PATH environment variable setting. That enables
your command interpreter to find MySQL programs properly, so that
you can run a program by typing only its name, not its path name.
See Section 2.3.6.6, “Customizing the PATH for MySQL Tools”.

With the server running, issue the following commands to verify
that you can retrieve information from the server. The output
should be similar to that shown here.

The list of installed databases may vary, but will always include
the minimum of mysql and
information_schema.

The preceding command (and commands for other MySQL programs such
as mysql) may not work if the correct MySQL
account does not exist. For example, the program may fail with an
error, or you may not be able to view all databases. If you
installed using the MSI packages and used the MySQL Server
Instance Config Wizard, then the root user will
have been created automatically with the password you supplied. In
this case, you should use the -u root and
-p options. (You will also need to use the
-u root and -p options if you
have already secured the initial MySQL accounts.) With
-p, you will be prompted for the
root password. For example: